Rating: 
Summary: A Sensitive Recording
Review: This is a very good early score from Jerry Goldsmith. It is very sensitive and reflective on the relationship of blind girl (Hartman) and black man (Poitier). Goldsmith received the 1965 Oscar nomination for this score. A good album.
Rating:
Summary: A BITTERSWEET, HEARTBREAKING FILM...
Review: This is a wonderful low-budget, black and white film starring a great cast of actors: Sidney Poitier, Shelley Winters, Wallace Ford, and then newcomer, Elizabeth Hartman. It was filmed in 1965, at the height of the civil rights movement, and was then notable for its budding inter-racial romance. While this aspect may seem rather tame today, at the time the movie was filmed, this was still a somewhat controversial theme in many parts of America.Elizabeth Hartman, in an exquisitely poignant performance for which she was nominated for an Academy Award, plays the part of Selina D'Arcy, an eighteen year old blind girl who lives an isolated and impoverished, almost Dickensian, existence. She lives with her abusive mother, Rose-Ann (Shelley Winters), who moonlights as a prostitute, and her drunken, though somewhat well-meaning, grandfather, whom she calls Ole Pa (Wallace Ford). Uneducated, having never gone to school, Selina spends her time stringing beads to earn some money for the family, cleaning up after her mother and grandfather, and being at the receiving end of constant physical abuse and verbal invectives heaped upon her by her mother. Hers is, indeed, a draconian existence. One day, she prevails upon her grandfather to drop her off in the park, where she proceeds to sit under a tree, stringing her beads. There, she meets a kindly, well-educated business man, Gordon Ralphe (Sidney Poitier), who takes an interest in her and her quick appreciation for any kindness done to her. She responds to Gordon's kindness as if she were a flower turning its face to the sun for continued warmth. He, in turn, is touched by her eager interest in even the most mundane of matters. They continue to meet under that tree as often as possible, and a relationship develops. Under Gordon's tutelage, Selina begins to blossom. Some of her disclosures to him about her life fill him with horror and a determination to do something constructive about it. While he goes about trying to improve her quality of life, their relationship deepens, despite the warnings of Gordon's brother. After all, Selina is white, uneducated, and comes from a trashy, dysfunctional family, while Gordon is black, well-educated, and from a good family. Selina, sure that what she feels is love, is less restrained than Gordon about her feelings, though their budding romance culminates in nothing more than a chaste kiss. When Rose-Ann finds out whom Selina has been meeting, however, matters come to a head, and Gordon comes to the rescue. A modern day knight in shining armor, however, Gordon does the selfless thing in the end. This is a wonderful movie in which the two main protagonists, Gordon and Selina, judge each other by the content of their respective character and not by the color of their skin. Though controversial at the time, this film may seem a little dated by today's standards. Yet, some of its themes are as fresh today as when it was filmed. The notion of selflessness and putting the needs of another before one's own remains timeless. This is a concept, however, rarely seen in today's films. Although this was Ms. Hartman's debut film, she deservedly received an Academy Award nomination for her sensitive portrayal of Selina. Unfortunately, her career never really took off after this film the way one would have expected after a performance of this caliber. She appeared only in a few notable films, such as, "The Group", "You're a Big Boy Now", and "Beguiled", before descending into virtual obscurity. I was saddened to hear that she committed suicide in the late nineteen eighties at the age of forty-five, a tragic figure in the end, leaving behind this beautiful performance for posterity.
Rating: 
Summary: A Ray of Sunshine in a Life of Darkness
Review: Warner Brothers produced A Patch of Blue in 1965, which was a black and white dramatic film set in California, starring such greats as Sidney Poitier, Shelley Winters, Elizabeth Hartman, and Wallace Ford. This film was quite racy for its time, as the movie's plot was centered on a budding relationship between a black man and a white teenage woman, which in those days was unheard of.
Selina D'Arcy (Hartman), an 18-year old blind white girl, lives an isolated, Cinderella-like existence with her foul-mouthed mother Roseanne (Winters) and drunken grandfather, "Ol' Pa" (Ford). Selina wants nothing more than to listen to the radio and occasionally string beads in the park. It is there that she meets handsome black businessman Gordon Ralfe (Poitier) who sizes up her plight. As Gordon conveniently continues to run into Selina at the park and their relationship grows. He is delighted that he can teach Selina such everyday things as relying on her sense of smell, calling the pay phone operator, and pushing "Walk" just to listen to the traffic stop.
It is easy to see why Shelly Winters won an Oscar for her portrayal of Selina's drunken and abusive prostitute mother. As a viewer, I cringed with Selina every time her mother went on one of her tirades. I still wonder why Elizabeth Hartman only received an Oscar nomination for her performance, because she truly portrayed the essence of her character.
I give this film a four-star rating because I felt that the film accurately portrayed a 1965 interracial romance and addressed the subject of significant age differences between two people clearly drawn romantically to one another. The film could be disturbing at times because it showed just how bleak life can be for a blind girl living in poverty with a truly dysfunctional family.
Rating:
Summary: OUTSTANDING, ONE OF MR. POITER'S BEST FILMS EVER. A MUST SEE
Review: WHILE WATCHING THIS FILM, I THOUGHT WHAT IF WE WERE ALL BLIND LIKE SELENA, MAYBE OUR SOCIETY WOULD BE MUCH BETTER. BY NOT HAVING SIGHT THIS CHARACTER SHOWED HOW MUCH BETTER SHE WAS THAN HER BIGOTED MOTHER WHO COULD SEE THE DIFFERENCE IN COLOR AND MAKING JUDGEMENTS. ALL SELENA SAW WAS HOW KIND A PERSON SIDNEY POITER'S CHARACTER WAS TO HER AND HOW HE HELPED HER. SHE DIDN'T CARE THAT HE WAS BLACK. THIS FILM SHOULD BE SEEN BY EVERYONE AND MAYBE YOU WILL GET OVER WHATEVER HANG UPS THEY HAVE ABOUT RACE. (IF ONLY THIS FILM COULD DO THIS. HOW NICE IT WOULD BE).
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece of a love story.
Review: Who cant help but fall in love with Selina D'Arcey?...This is a moving, bittersweet tale of forbidden love. A blind girl, who has nothing going for her, and lives such a bland, ...existence in the most dysfunctional of homes that you want to rescue her. And you'll want to throttle her abusive, rude witch of a mother, played by Shelly Winters in her finest hour.....but along comes her knight in shining armor, and shows her, well, just basic courtesy, which she's never known, and theres just something about the little blind girl at the park that keeps Sydney Pointier's character coming back. When he shows her compassion, and offers her companionship, she falls madly in love, and the poor dear is starved for affection, for all she knows is rudeness, and violence....The story draws in the viewer, and you start really caring about Selina, and want her to win in the end.....and the end will haunt you for the rest of your days.
Rating:
Summary: I CRIED AND I CRIED!
Review: Wow! This is an amazing and powerful film.
(also a powerful book...MUST READ!) A rare time where I enjoyed book and film equally. WISH THIS WOULD COME OUT ON DVD.
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